St George’s Hospital Medical School was established in 1733 and is based in Tooting, South London. It was the second institution in England to provide formal training courses for doctors and is the only UK University based in a hospital (St George’s Hospital). St George’s is home to over 5,500 students and approximately 760 members of staff.
Started MHFA training
July 2018
Staff trained so far
145
Why we started MHFA England Training
St George’s first introduced the MHFA England Mental Health Aware course in July 2018. Leaders recognised the need from staff wanting to upskill and better support their colleagues and students. No prior mental health training provision existed before this date.
The motivation behind the first course offered was to gauge interest. And it certainly did that. Within 30 minutes of advertising the course, it became fully booked with an extensive waiting list.
Seven months later the first full Mental Health First Aid course was delivered, with the intention of training key members of staff who directly supported the mental health of staff and students; including HR, Registry, Research Ops, Lecturers and Chaplaincy. Since those early days, St George’s has opened this training up to more and more staff ensuring inclusion and accessibility for all.
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Challenges
Mental Health awareness and the ability to have a conversation have never been more important, with staff facing extraordinary challenges since the pandemic began. Due to the nature of course delivery, Medical training staff have needed to work onsite at the hospital, which for some has created anxiety over Covid-19. Staff have had to rapidly adapt to teaching, learning and working from home to continue providing services to staff and students. The latter are studying a pressurised and competitive subject, whilst dealing with uncertainty and constant change.
“Employee wellbeing has been an increasing focus of our staff development offer over the past few years, but more so than ever during the pandemic, which has challenged everybody,”
explains Jenny Winters, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development.
“By offering MHFA England training our aim is to increase awareness of mental health issues and equip our managers and staff to recognise mental health triggers and feel able to offer, or ask for, support if needed."
Results
The MHFA England courses have been a catalyst for change within St George’s, not only demonstrating the genuine need, interest and willingness to develop their work around mental health, but also kick-starting the development of their mental health programme.
Significantly, the courses have brought together staff from different departments to collaborate, share knowledge and improve the communication and signposting of mental health and wellbeing support that is available across the university. It has also encouraged open conversation around the mental health and wellbeing of staff and students.
A lot of great work has been implemented since the first courses were delivered. Mental health training and wellbeing workshops are now a core part of the standard staff development offering. The Gathering, a monthly mental health and wellbeing group, is firmly established and offers staff the opportunity to connect and collaborate informally.
Staff now work closely with networks such as Staff Disability Network, Race and Ethnicity Network and the LGBT+ Network, raising awareness of mental health and intersectionality. ‘Breathing Spaces’ have also been set up in response to Black Lives Matter and Covid-19, with the groups facilitated by trained professionals.
It’s clear that these interventions, alongside the MHFA England training are having a positive impact on employees, with staff reporting a greater degree of confidence having learned Mental Health First Aid skills – and some of whom now walk around equipped with their support tools. St George’s has also found the MHFA England workplace guidance documents helpful in supporting the development of the overall programme.
There has been an increased use of the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) at particular times over the last year, with Covid-19 being cited as the main driver for staff – however, prior to starting the MHFA England training and raising awareness about mental health, many staff didn’t know the EAP existed.
Significantly the courses have brought together people across the organisation to share and discuss mental health and wellbeing more openly and to work together to share the new services and initiatives as well as those that were already in place.
The Future
St George’s has achieved a huge amount in a short space of time, yet they are still working on improving their programme. They would like to see their mental health offering become more joined up over their entire organisation and for it to become more sustainable with better signposting, resourcing and organisation. They will be focusing on data from the EAP to help inform planning and have also planned to add a new mental health and wellbeing focus on their University website for staff.
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